1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an Internet facsimile apparatus and an Internet facsimile communication method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is developed an Internet facsimile apparatus (hereinafter referred to as IFAX) as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application HEI 8-242326 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,233. As one of method for connecting IFAX to the Internet, there is dial-up connection. IFAX connected to the Internet by dialup (hereinafter referred to as dial-up IFAX) generally uses a mail server that is provided by an Internet service provider (hereinafter referred to as ISP).
The conventional dial-up IFAX gains access to an access point of ISP by dial-up and access to the mail server to confirm the presence or absence of incoming mail stored in the mail server. This operation is called a mail check connection. Since the dial-up IFAX must connect to the ISP even if incoming mail is not stored in the mail server, the unavailing mail check connection easily occurs. As a result, a telephone charge for dial-up access and an ISP service charge (hereinafter referred to as an access charge) are wasted.
There is a case where data format of image information attached to incoming mail cannot be printed by the dial-up IFAX even if incoming mail is stored in the mail server. In this case, since no printing can be carried out, the access charge is wasted even if the mail check connection is performed to receive incoming mail.
Moreover, in the case of divisionally transmitting an original from a transmitting end, the dial-up IFAX on a receiving end sometimes performs the mail check connection and receives e-mail before all e-mail reaches the mail server of ISP. In this case, there is a problem in which only the part of the originals is printed. All originals can be printed in a single step if all e-mail is prepared and received one time. In this case, the access charge is also wasted.